Policy Pitfalls of SWH

Abstract

Strategies aimed at promoting the use of solar water heating in the residential sector, may fall short of logical expectations for a number of reasons. These are identified and evaluated in the South African context. Developing countries are financially not in a position to accept that solar technology should be promoted to sustain the environment. The main driver appears to be affordability in the short-term. In the past, coal-fired electricity was relatively inexpensive in South Africa. This is rapidly changing, since the national demand is outstripping the supply. Government has therefore set a target of one million SWHs installations in homes by 2015. Local manufacturers cannot meet this demand. In order to avoid dumping of inferior quality imports, the South African Bureau of Standards announced their industry manufacturing standards some three years later. Eskom, the state-owned utility, is offering a rebate for approved installations of high and low-pressure hot water systems. Industry responded by increasing the selling price of local and imported systems. The net result is a 10-year payback period, instead of the original 3-year period. The uptake is thus disappointingly slow in the high-pressure, hybrid systems. The rebate is proportionally larger for the lower income groups, hence a greater demand for low-pressure systems.Lessons learned should assist policymakers in similar developing countries. Neither the abundance of solar irradiation nor the obvious environmental advantages acted as prime motivators for this deserving programme.